What Is Glamping?

Nothing beats becoming one with our natural surroundings, but the big turn-offs for most folks are the lack of showers, proper toilet facilities, not to mention the dirty sleeping bags and tents that spring leaks. What would make a camping trip truly endurable, fun and entertaining would be to add a little style and sparkle to the whole experience, such as nice warm beds, gourmet food and of course convenient, acceptable plumbing. It might come as a shock to all of you camping holdouts that this dream is in fact a reality. It’s a new camping experience that is quickly catching on, and it’s known as Glamping.
Glamping is a shortened version of luxury or glamorous camping. Both those new to the camping experience and those used to roughing it are able to enjoy nature without having to do without luxuries like comfortable places to sleep, good tasting food and modern plumbing conveniences. Glamping combines the love of outdoors with the style of living in a modern world.

Tents are still a part of the camping experience. However, instead of dirty old sleeping bags, campers can happily stand upright in their tents and lie down on comfortable mattresses between soft sheets. Imagine enjoying a tent interior that has been smartly decorated with materials of bright colors, flowers in decorative vases, and even carpeting, making one happy camper.

In addition to the interior designs mentioned above, glamping tents are equipped with climate control and electricity to make the most out of being comfortable. Nearby are the showers, with hot and cold running water as well as toilets that aren’t from the last two hundred years.

It doesn’t stop there. Major glamping locations offer gourmet meals made by onsite chefs trained in the art of international cooking as well as top-notch butlers at the beck and call of glampers. Not only this, but this highly luxurious camping experience can be had in some of the most breathtakingly stunning locations on the planet.

Banyan Tree Maldives Madivaru located in Maldives, the El Capitan Canyon out in California and the Greystoke Mahale over in Tanzania are just a handful of examples of these luxury campgrounds.

Banyan Tree Maldives Madivaru

The best location is Banyan Tree Maldives Madivaru. This campsite is cut off from the rest of humanity, so much so that you can only arrive by seaplane. It’s nestled deep in the heart of a bright green jungle next to an azure lagoon. The tents, pure white in color, are raised upon wood floors with desks made from teak-wood and folding chairs of leather.

Amenities at this resort are easily available without disrupting your view of the area. Near your tent is a sandbank that you can call your own, where you can dine with your partner under a night sky filled with bright stars.

El Capitan Canyon

El Capitan Canyon is only twenty short miles from the city of Santa Barbara, but don’t let the proximity to this large city fool you as far as getting away from it all. This 300 acre dreamland has the Pacific Ocean facing one direction and the El Capitan Canyon in the other. Just twenty-six tents using willow beds that are woven by hand, duvets using down and lanterns by the beds lend a casual feel to these furnishings.

Greystoke Mahale

Then there is the Greystoke Mahale, located on the treeline in the Mahale mountains rising above the beautiful Lake Tanganyika. Six huts, known as bandas, are beautifully decorated with open fronts and a wall that isn’t where you’d expect it to be, allowing cooling breezes and the peaceful choirs of nature to introduce you to new mornings and cradling you as evening gives way to nighttime. There are two levels to these huts, with the open air bedroom on the first level and the relaxing deck on the top. In back of your banda is a bathroom all your own, where you can enjoy not only hot and cold showers but also toilets that flush.